


Parallel Grief

by BellatrixTheStar



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27079690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BellatrixTheStar/pseuds/BellatrixTheStar
Summary: Or, the Time She Didn't Die and the Time He Did.Spoilers for season 2!
Relationships: Artemis Crock/Wally West
Kudos: 7





	Parallel Grief

**< >(o)<>(o)<>(o)<>Wally<>(o)<>(o)<>(o)<>**

He hadn’t agreed to this.

Well, actually, he had, but that wasn’t the point.

He had never supported this. He supported _her_ though. And it hadn’t been his decision.

That sounded more truthful.

He sighed a soul-deep sigh and tried to convince himself to get up off the couch.

_You finally have the couch all to yourself!_

The space was filled with worry and memories of moments that might never happen again. How could anyone enjoy that?

_You have the remote all to yourself! No more fighting over which channel we - I get to watch!_

I suppose.

_Come on, man! Get a hold of yourself! She’s NOT dead. Think about how much worse the team have it!_

Wally snatched up one of the couch cushions and hugged it to his chest, lying on his back and staring at the ceiling.

It shouldn’t have been her. He should have volunteered. He should have -

_You know that wouldn’t have worked. Your powers are too recognisable._

Shut up. Shut up shutupshutupshutup…

He rolled over on his side, missing her voice nagging him to move his feet, missing her calm presence, missing her arms around him as they lay together, missing, missing, missing, missing. He felt a drop of salty water slowly drip down the right side of his face and onto the couch, creating a minuscule damp patch. He swiped it away irritably.

_Get a hold of yourself! You’re a superhero, Kid-Flash! She’s not even dead!_

Wally suddenly shot up, stilling clutching the pillow.

_Right. I'll –_ he hesitated, his instinctive wish to go for a run or go on patrol immediately discarded, _\- I’ll, uh, make dinner?_

He flopped sideways back onto the couch, going back to moping.

What was the point if he was only making it for himself?

_I’m not moping_ , he told himself, _I’m processing. Yeah, processing._

Processing made it sound like she was dead. Which she WASN’T.

_Maybe she wasn’t killed today, but what about tomorrow? What about if Manta discovers her identity? What if the amulet doesn’t work? What if –_

He cut himself off, remembering what she’d told him earlier, “ _Babe, you’re freaking out over nothing.”_ _Artemis knows what she’s doing, and so does Dick. And so does Zatana, for that matter. Stop worrying. Artemis would kick your butt if she knew you were moping around like this, you know she would._

It was that final thought that finally got him off the couch.

With another sigh and an absent swipe at his wet eyes, he shuffled over to the fridge, intending to make dinner. He opened it and stared at the rows of healthy foods and snacks Artemis had stocked up on before leaving.

When the fridge _beeped,_ he realised he’d been staring for more than five minutes.

_ARGHGHGHGHGGH! I can’t do this. I need to get out of my head!_

Decidedly not hungry, he strode over to his room, opened the box at the bottom on their closet and grabbed his goggles.

Locking the front door behind him, he streaked off into the night, just another blurry figure in the snow.

He would run and run and run and run until all this-this, well, whatever it was, just left his system. He’d eat later.

**< >(o)<>(o)<>(o)<>Artemis<>(o)<>(o)<>(o)<>**

“Artemis, he wanted me to tell you,”

“No," She began, knowing what was coming, "no."

“He loved you.”

_No! No nononononononononononono- No._

_Just – no._

This couldn’t be happening.

This was her fault.

_No._

Artemis knelt in the snow, clutching her stomach.

She felt sick.

_No. no no nonono_ no- she cut herself off.

_I can’t do this._

_“Babe, you’re freaking out over nothing. What could go wrong?”_

She sobbed at the memory of her words from a few weeks ago.

_Everything!_ Her mind screamed back through time, trying vainly to reach her past self, _everything went wrong because nothing is worth losing you!_

She felt Me’gann’s arms around her, but it didn’t matter because those weren’t the arms she wanted. They weren’t the arms that had picked her up when she had lost her memory in Biyalia. They weren’t the arms that had held her on the Watchtower after defeating the Light. They weren’t the arms that had wrapped around her at night when she had a nightmare, or when they were watching tv on the couch.

Somehow, someone got her back to her house.

Me’gann, probably.

She couldn’t go in.

She had pretended to go inside but had really stopped just past the threshold and closed the door.

_No._

Tears still streamed freely down her face, making her vision swim and the familiar living room blur into a mess of unrecognisable colours.

Good.

Artemis preferred it that way.

She didn’t want to see the room they had been in so many times together when they were smiling. _God, I miss his smile. His goofy, adorable, his - his smile and his laugh and I'll never - I'll never -_

Artemis curled up in a ball, still in her suit, bow and quiver lodging uncomfortably in the small of her back but she didn’t care. She sobbed again, leaving dark patches on the carpet where the tears fell.

Sometime later, she got up, changed into some casual clothes and left the house, locking the door behind her. She felt numb, inside and out, but she still had things to do. Why did they _always_ have one more thing to do?

_My fault_ , echoed sadly, hopelessly, pityingly in her mind, but she didn't react.

Someone had to tell his parents.

She’d have time to cry later.

**Author's Note:**

> So. That was uncomfortably sad and hopeless, but then again, so was that moment in the show *glares at writers in 'how could you?!*
> 
> Also, please give me tips on writing angst!
> 
> And blame BrokenKestral for choosing Young Justice! Thanks for keeping me accountable for all the things I say I'll write, friend :)
> 
> Trix


End file.
